Survival Island
by WinButler
Summary: Twelve students. One island. The challenge: To reach the campsite, with partner, before everyone else. Simple, right? One problem. What if you're handcuffed for a week to someone you can't stand?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own yu gi oh. Also title was taken from a movie, but plot is not.

A/N: Haven't decided whether to kill anyone yet, so rating may go up. Also, may be implied SxB, JxM, but no actual things happening.

Survival Island – chapter one

It was a bright and early Friday morning, and Yugi Moto, along with his friends Tea Gardner, Tristan Taylor, and Joey Wheeler, as well as his Yami, were loading their suitcases into the back of Yugi's grandpa's car. They were preparing for their school trip, which they were due to leave for in two hours. They were going to undertake a "Challenge Week" on an island somewhere in the South pacific.

They had been told that the island was fairly secluded, and that the twelve participants, along with the teachers, would be the only ones there.

"I sure hope Ryou's chosen to bring someone nice." Remarked Grandpa, as they hopped into the car and headed for the airport.

"I wouldn't bet on that, Grandpa." Replied Yugi.

As there was surprisingly little interest in the trip (most of the students had heard the words "hard work", and shut their ears), each of the participants had been invited to bring along a friend from another school. Yugi had brought Yami. Joey was bringing his girlfriend, Mai. Tea and Tristan had declined to invite anyone.

But the six of them were not the main problem. Also going on the trip were Ryou, Seto Kaiba, and Duke Devlin, who between them had managed to invite Bakura, Marik and his Yami.

Ever since Bakura and Kaiba had resolved their differences and become friends, Ryou had spent less and less time with Yugi and his friends and more time with his own Yami, and the rest of their little gang. Yugi was sure the six of _them _(Except Ryou) would take every pleasure in making sure to irritate Yugi and Yami as much as was humanly possible on the trip.

"OK, kids, here we are." Said Grandpa as they pulled up to the airport. They exited the car, grabbed their suitcases, and headed off. They would not see civilization again for an entire week once they had left the plane, so they tried to take in as much as possible at the airport.

They quickly found the two teachers who were to accompany them on the trip, Miss Jones and Mr Smith. They were standing with Mai, who was looking supremely uncomfortable.

"Hi, Mai!" they ran up to greet her, and immediately began talking about what fun they were going to have on the trip.

"I just hope our fun isn't ruined by those losers from the other group." Commented Mai.

"Hey." Protested Yugi. "One of those losers is our friend. Two if you count Duke."

"I suppose." Agreed Mai. "It's not exactly the people from your school that are going to cause the trouble. Ryou will probably do whatever his stupid Yami does, and Duke and that Yami Marik will be causing trouble, I guess."

"At least they've got Kaiba to keep them in line." Laughed Joey.

"That's true. He didn't even want to come on this trip, and he's not gonna let anyone make him more pissed off than he already is." Said Tristan.

Joey started to speak, but was interrupted by an almighty crash coming from somewhere within the airport.

"What the hell was that?"

"Do you even have to ask?" responded Mai sarcastically, as the group saw Bakura, Marik and Yami Marik running through the airport carrying what seemed to be as much stolen goods as they could carry. They were being pursued by armed security guards, and, a little further back, a fatigued and exasperated Ryou. He saw the group and hurriedly approached them.

"Oh, you guys! This is awful!" he cried. "Can't they control themselves at all?"

"Whose idea was this, Ryou?"

"I don't know, I was in the CD section, and the next thing I heard was this crash, and I knew what was going on. I ran after them, but the security guards were faster. I have to say, I'd be pretty surprised if this wasn't Bakura's idea. He is a thief after all."

"Well, this is just perfect." Said Tristan miserably. "I bet we don't get to go."

"No, no." said Miss Jones firmly. "I'll deal with this. You seven will all be allowed on the trip."

Ryou gasped. "What about Bakura?"

"Well, if he's going to be pulling stunts like this all week, I'm not sure if I even want him on the trip."

"No!" cried Ryou, a pained look in his eyes. "I promise he'll be good, miss. He just can't help himself at airports. There's so much security around. It's like robbing Kaiba's house, it's only fun if it's a challenge."

She frowned. "All right. But you better be right about him." She went off to reason with security, who by now had cornered all three boys.

They were approached now by the final members of their party, one of whom was frowning and glaring at Ryou.

"Look here, Ryou, I thought that damn Yami of yours had stopped that crap now. I want you to tell him to give me back my laptop, or I swear he'll be sorry." Kaiba snapped.

"Tell him yourself, you're the one that's so close to him." Said Ryou, grinning.

"Shut up." Replied Kaiba.

"So what the hell is going on here, you guys?" asked Tristan. "Did you know about this?"

"Yeah." Replied Kaiba coolly. "What do you expect us to do about it? It's not my problem if that tomb robbing psychopath and the Egyptian freaks get themselves into trouble."

"Yeah, but it is mine." Said Ryou, hurt. "He's my Yami, and Marik's my best friend. I've got to deal with them too, you know."

"Oh, let's just forget it." Said Duke diplomatically, for once. "Miss Jones will sort it out, she always does."

And indeed, an hour later, ten minutes before their flight was due to leave, Miss Jones brought Bakura, Marik and Yami Marik back to the group.

"Well, it's all sorted." She said. "Once Mr Kaiba and Ryou helped us out. Thanks again, you guys."

They nodded. Bakura and Marik had only been willing to give up the stolen goods after much pleading from Ryou and having some hair ripped out by Kaiba.

"So, do we get to leave now?" asked Duke impatiently.

"Absolutely. Let's get on the plane."

The twelve participants hurriedly boarded the plane, and sat down, ready to leave.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

A/N: I'll get rid of the teachers ASAP. Promise.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh.

Survival Island Chapter two – On The Plane

The group of twelve had been aboard the plane for two hours, and had been divided into groups of four, while the teachers got to sit in first class on their own.

The group consisting of Tristan, Mai, Ryou and Bakura was beginning to get restless. Tristan was looking forlornly at his four friends laughing together on the other side of the plane. The six of them had spent five minutes rationally talking out who would have to go with members of the other group, before drawing straws. Mai and Tristan had drawn the short ones.

As for the other group, Duke and Yami Marik had grabbed each other, while Marik, who feared for his life with those two, had grabbed Kaiba and forced him to sit with them. Leaving Bakura and Ryou. Ryou was sad that his best friend would rather sit with Kaiba than with him, and Bakura was thoroughly pissed off. Kaiba would never hear the end of that. As it was, he had received a punch from Bakura.

Bakura was wondering how best to exact his revenge, while Tristan simply looked upset. Mai and Ryou were playing snap. Yugi, Yami, Tea, and Joey were playing Happy Families. Duke was trying to convince his friends to play Strip Poker. "But instead of taking off clothes, you have to give me your money." Said Duke, after much protestation of "what are you, gay?" from his companions.

"What the hell? Then that's just regular poker, you moron!"

"Oh. Well, then let's play "Everyone mug Kaiba!""

Kaiba looked positively incensed. "Absolutely not." He snapped. "I don't even have any money with me."

"Sure you do, rich boy." Muttered Duke.

An hour later, things had not improved much as far as Bakura was concerned. Ryou had been informing him about geckos, which was apparently his favourite topic of conversation. If he had to hear anything more about the species _Phelsuma Madagascariensis, _he knew he would have to stab Ryou.

Bakura decided the best plan of action was to make his escape to the bathroom. Despite Ryou's pleas of "Wait! You haven't heard about how the family _Gekkonidae _don't have eyelids!", to which Bakura sourly responded "Yes I have, Several times.", he made his way to the bathroom, where he sat for twenty minutes listening to Evil (Interpol) on his iPod. At least he had one thing to be grateful to Ryou for – he had taught him how to work it.

When he exited, he tried to convince Duke to move, but Duke wasn't having it.

"Come on, Devlin, it's boring over there."

"You've got Ryou."

"That's what's boring!"

"You like Ryou."

Bakura scowled. "You see if _you _like Ryou after half an hour of gecko lectures. Well, what about you, Marik? Ryou's your best friend."

Marik laughed. "No way! I'm having too much fun over here."

Bakura started to become desperate. "Yami Marik?" he inquired, though he knew the day Yami Marik left Duke alone with Marik and Bakura would be the day hell froze over. If Duke were to mysteriously die, who would Yami Marik cause trouble with?

Bakura bowed his head. There was little to no point asking Kaiba to move, the rest of the group wouldn't let him, he needed to be there the control the others' wild behaviour. "Fine." He muttered. "But if Ryou tells me one more thing about geckos, I swear, this knife - "

"Knife!" exclaimed Marik. "Bakura, how did you get it on? I couldn't even get scissors past security."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "I was a tomb robber for years, Marik, and you've frequently accompanied me on "visits" to Kaiba's house, don't you think I know how to smuggle a knife on to an airplane?"

He dashed off, anxious to escape the wrath of Seto Kaiba upon hearing these words. He made his way back to Ryou, while Kaiba was shouting at him. "Give me back my fucking DVD player, you tomb robbing scumbag!"

He took his seat, prepared for more thrilling gecko facts, and absentmindedly glanced over at Yugi, Tea, Yami, and Joey. They were still playing Happy Families. Tea was giggling, Joey was patting Yugi on the head in a friendly "You're losing, but it's okay" sort of way. Yami was looking upon them fondly, like a proud parent.

_Oh well. _Thought Bakura. _I suppose it could be worse. _

Thirty minutes later, Tea and her friends were still playing (and giggling about the joys of friendship), and Ryou was sitting with a pouting Bakura. He decided to stop indulging the tomb robber's pettiness, and speak to Tristan instead.

"So, ah, Tristan, How is everything? I know I haven't hung out with you guys in a few weeks."

"A few weeks? Try a few months, Ryou."

"No…..It can't be that long, surely."

"Why not? I know you love hanging out with Marik, he's your best friend. And Bakura's your Yami. It's OK, Ryou, those guys are your friends."

"Yeah, but so are you guys. I miss being with normal people sometimes. Duke is nice, but Bakura and Marik are always stealing stuff. And Yami Marik's not much better. And Kaiba can get tiresome sometimes.

"Well, anytime you wanna hang out with us, you're always welcome."

"Thanks, Tristan."

Ryou glanced over at his Yami, who seemed to be glaring enviously at three empty seats.

Bakura sighed jealously. His friends had been causing so much commotion that they had had to be taken to the stewards cabin, where they were to sit for the remainder of the trip. Only Kaiba was still there, as he had refused to take part in whatever they were doing, but once again had refused to take responsibility for their actions. He was silently reading.

After a four hour flight, though it seemed like much longer to certain members of the party, they landed. It seemed that they would be taking their own boats to the island, and that any form of communication with the mainland had been suspended. They really would be completely stranded. And the worst of it was, they had to row out there on their own, with no help whatever.

They remained in their groups of four in the taxis that were taking them to the coast. Conversation was minimal even in the taxi that contained Yugi and his friends.

In Kaiba's all that could be heard was Duke and Marik arguing about who had started the so called "flame contest." The idea of the game had been to light matches simultaneously, and the first person to blow out their match or drop it was the loser.

"Thanks to you, you stupid dice freak, I've got a huge burn on my hand."

"Well, you didn't have to take the game so seriously." Retorted Duke.

"I wanted to win!"

"And so you can die a happy man knowing you did win an unbelievably stupid game against a person whose ideas are so notoriously bad they landed you a burn on you finger and a trip to the stewards cabin for half an hour, for setting a plane seat on fire." Snapped Kaiba. "Now, shut up, both of you. You're getting on my nerves."

"Oh, what do you know, Kaiba? You weren't even in the game."

Kaiba raised his eyebrows. "For a reason."

Duke scowled. "Shut it, Kaiba." He pouted, and turned away from him, to start talking to Yami Marik.

Marik sighed. He wished Ryou were there.

Kaiba looked out of the taxi window resentfully. For the first time ever, he wished he could talk to Bakura, the only halfway acceptable person on this trip. He had been, of course, forced on the trip by Mokuba, who had heard about it from Yugi, and begged Kaiba to go. Kaiba could hear his brother's words. "But, Seto, you never get out of the office! You have to go, you never do anything school-related. You hardly ever even go. You'll have fun. Bakura's going."

He had regretted agreeing to the trip almost the instant he did it. And he was beginning to understand why.

When they arrived at the coast they immediately departed their taxis, and ran down to the beach, where their teachers were waiting for them.

"OK, guys, listen up." Said Miss Jones. "We'll be dividing into groups of six. One teacher per group. And in our sevens, we'll be taking these boats over to the island." She indicated the small boats behind her. By the time she had turned back around, the group had organised itself into the obvious sixes.

"So, everyone, lets go!"

Yugi wasn't positive, but he could have sworn he saw a shudder emanate from Kaiba. Probably from the thought of spending seven days on an island with only them for company.

END OF CHAPTER TWO

Please, review, everyone, I want to know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own yu gi oh

Survival Island Chapter three – The first night

As many members of the group soon found out, maneuvering the small boats towards the distant island was not a task to be taken lightly. In Boat 1, as it had been christened (since it reached the island first), there were actually not that many problems, and they had little trouble reaching the island in the target time.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about Boat 2, or "The Loser Boat". The only person capable of rowing effectively, was, unsurprisingly, Kaiba. Even the teacher was fairly useless. With Duke's help, Kaiba managed to steer them miles out of their way, and the team ended up completely stranded in the middle of the sea. Marik and Yami Marik had no idea what they were doing whatsoever. Bakura had never even seen a boat like this before. And Ryou was staring nervously in the water, looking out for sharks.

"I'm scared, you guys. They can smell the fear." He said anxiously.

"Shut it, Ryou, you're making me nervous." Responded Marik.

Eventually, the only solution was to call to island for help. Finally, members of the other party came out in the other boat to help them out. Kaiba looked extremely disgruntled at having to be helped by Yami, of all people.

"How do you even know how to row anyway, Yami?" he snapped.

"I suggest you stop whining, and start helping, priest." replied Yami coolly.

"I am not a - "

Kaiba was interrupted by Ryou's pitiful whines at the back of the boat. He had seen a shark.

Two hours later, both parties were safely on the beach of the fairly large island. It was beautiful landscape, with a tall mountain, miles of sparkling blue water, and lots of lush green forest. Their problems at sea having been alleviated, most of the twelve people were feeling a little better about the challenge ahead, but were still wondering exactly what it was that they were going to be made to do. Thankfully, Miss Jones stood up, and began instructing them in her authoritarian tone.

"Now listen up, all of you. It's getting late, so I'll say this now. Tomorrow we begin our trek. We'll be climbing up the mountain as a team. We'll hopefully be up there by midday, and can climb back down again, and have a nice relaxing evening. On Sunday, we're going to start the challenge. You'll be working in teams. Yes, there will be a prize for the winner. I won't say anything more than that at the moment, but this challenge will take until Tuesday night. After that, on Wednesday we'll be doing watersports, don't worry, we had all the equipment brought over, on Thursday, we'll have a free day, and then on Friday, we'll be going. Bear in mind that the main part of this trip is to be focused on the three day challenge. Anyway, now that we've got that all sorted out, who's for some good, old fashioned campfire songs?"

Kaiba groaned. He'd rather die than sing campfire songs with these losers. He and Bakura snuck away to see if they could find anything better to do. Marik and Ryou also didn't look forward to this. But they decided to stick it out, as they were looking forward to seeing Yami Marik and Duke change the lyrics of the songs to incorporate "inappropriate content".

11:00pm, island time

When they were told that it was time to go to bed, most of the party began to set up their tents, and prepare for sleep. There were six tents, meaning that they were allowed to sleep in pairs. Predictably, since it was a school trip, boys and girls were not allowed in the same tent. Mai and Joey looked disappointed at this news. So Mai ended up sharing a tent with the only other girl present, Tea. They quickly got ready, and sat in their tent, presumably gossiping about everyone else. Well, a large amount of giggling could be heard, anyway.

Bakura and Kaiba stayed up for as long as possible, while Bakura told Kaiba all about how he planned to ruin everyone else's fun on the trip.

"You really are a psychopath, you know that." Said Kaiba irritably. He was not used to more than five hours sleep a night, so the likelihood that he would get to sleep before this psycho was pretty low. He got out his iPod and began listening to random electronica, just to get away from the sound of Bakura's voice. It was not long before Bakura could no longer stand the music, and left the tent in dismay.

Ryou and Marik were both ostensibly asleep in the their tent, however in reality, each was laying away from each other, awake. Ryou was fluttering in and out of consciousness. Marik was silently rooting around in his bag, searching for the "present" he had gotten for Ryou.

"Ah-ha!" he whispered to himself, as he procured the small, scaly animal from his backpack. It was a gecko. Bakura had told him how much Ryou had irritated him on the plane, and this was simply Marik helping Bakura get revenge.

He carefully placed the gecko in Ryou's soft, fluffy white hair, and waited for the inevitable scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!" He leapt out of his sleeping bag, waking almost the entire camp, and nearly crushing the poor gecko.

"Marik. Why?!? Why would you put a Pacific Leaf-toed gecko in my hair? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Marik raised his eyebrows at Ryou's unusual use of bad language. "Bakura asked me to."

Ryou's expression was priceless. "BAKURA!!!" he shrieked. "You put a gecko in my hair because Bakura asked you to? You're meant to be my best friend, not his!"

Marik was by this time doubled over in laughter. "Sorry, Ryou, but I could not resist."

Ryou narrowed his eyes at Marik, and stormed out of the tent. He stalked over to Yami and Yugi's tent, but they were pretending to sleep. It was clear to Ryou that they didn't want anyone else in the tent.

He tried Tristan and Joey's, but he didn't want to risk getting bitten. Joey was clearly having a nice dream about a "gigantic donut."

And he had no intention of daring to enter Duke and Yami Marik's tent; they had probably already set one another on fire. Damn Marik. Why did he have to be such a mean friend? Ryou sniffed. He briefly considered going into Bakura and Kaiba's tent to talk to his Yami, but thought better of it. Ra only knew what they were doing in there.

He strolled along the beach, taking in the sparkling quality of the blue water, which at the moment was glistening silver as it reflected the moon. Ryou knew, of course, that the colour of the sea didn't really reflect the sky, there were microscopic particles in the water that absorbed every wavelength of light except for blue, and that there were also algae, the density of which contributed to the colour of the sea as well. But he tried not to think of that as he stared out into the vast ocean.

He suddenly spotted someone he knew. They were over by the forest. At the moment, Ryou was sure his Yami had not seen him. He tiptoed over to him, coming up behind him. Bakura was singing to himself. Ryou rolled his eyes. Singing was not one of the tomb robber's strong suits. He was murdering NYC.

"Bakura?" he said. "What are you doing out here?"

Bakura jumped round to see his small hikari in front of him. "Ryou! I would ask you not to creep up on me like that! Unless you want to spend this trip in the Shadow Realm!"

Ryou looked at Bakura with his best puppy dog expression. "Kura, why d'you tell Marik to put a gecko in my hair?"

Bakura sighed. "That stupid tomb keeper, I told him to put it down the back of your shirt. That would have really freaked you out."

Ryou looked pained. "Fine. You're meant to be my Yami, but you're acting more like Marik's."

"Whatever." Replied Bakura. "Get back to your tent. Marik will be worrying."

"Er, if Marik was worrying, don't you think he would have come out of his tent to look for me by now? Besides, it's not like I went to Europe. I can see our tent from here, for goodness sake."

"Look, hikari, I hope you're not going to be acting like a woman the entire trip."

Ryou sighed. "Fine. Be that way, Kura. Get back to your tent now. Don't want to keep Kaiba waiting." With that, Ryou strolled off to another part of the beach, leaving Bakura to regretfully re enter his and Kaiba's tent. He thanked Ra that Kaiba had turned off his "music". He lay down in his sleeping bag, but did not get to sleep for a good few hours.

Ryou, meanwhile, had decided against sleeping in a tent full stop. He was going to have to sleep in the sand, which was unfortunate, but couldn't be helped. He lay down, silently praying he wouldn't get somehow washed out to sea during the night. He glanced up at the moon, and tried to work out how far up the tide would come. He eventually decided he would be safe where he was. He shut his eyes.

END OF CHAPTER THREE


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh

Chapter four – This is my worst Nightmare come to life

It was a bright Saturday morning, and most of the twelve participants on the island would usually spend a Saturday morning lying in bed, having a lie-in. No such luck today though. They were woken at a nice and early eight am. Duke and Yami Marik groaned impatiently as the teacher blew the "wake up foghorn" in their ear. Bakura threatened her with the knife he had brought with him. Kaiba was not in their tent, and he was later discovered to have already been up for two hours, and was pacing the beach. Tea and Mai, along with Yami and Yugi, got up readily. Tristan and Joey had to be poked repeatedly with a stick, and have the foghorn blown at them several times, and even enticed with a "donut breakfast" before they would even stir.

And as for Marik, the mere mention of Ryou's disappearance got him out of bed.

"I wonder where he is." Said the teacher.

"That's all you have to say, you stupid bitch? What if he's been kidnapped, or something?"

She frowned. "I doubt it. There's no one on this island but us. Well, where could he be?"

At this moment, a yawning Ryou came out of the trees, and waved them good morning.

"Young man, where have you been?"

He looked puzzled. "I've just woken up."

"Not in your tent, I noticed."

"No." he responded. "I had to sleep outside on the beach last night. Marik put a gecko on me. And no one else would share their tent."

She frowned in disbelief. "Did you say a gecko?"

"Yes. I think he thought it would be funny."

"Well, why did you not sleep in a tent with your friend?" she indicated Bakura. "I'm sure neither he nor Kaiba would have minded."

He raised his eyebrows. "Clearly you don't know them as well as you I do. I mean, oh, sorry, miss, that was rude."

She grimaced. "Well, it doesn't matter now, I suppose. Get ready, we're climbing up that mountain today, in case you'd forgotten."

The morning passed fairly quickly. The group ascended the mountain with surprisingly little difficulty, since several of them had never so much as climbed a hill.

"What's the matter, pharaoh?" asked Bakura snidely, as Yami struggled with the climbing. "Did you never bother to run up one of the pyramids? You know, just for a laugh one day?"

Yami gave him a venomous look, and Yugi pouted at him. "God, Bakura, you're so horrible. Can't you see he's trying?"

"Can't you see I don't care?" retorted Bakura. Kaiba grinned at him, then gave the pharaoh a malicious look.

"The sooner I get away from that damn Yami, the better I think I'll feel." Said Kaiba to no one in particular. But Bakura heard him, and nodded his head in concurrence. Baiting the pharaoh was the one upside to having to spend time with him.

By midday, they were up the mountain, and by nightfall they were down it again.

"Well, that was an unbelievable waste of time." Said Bakura. "And since when was there a jeep here?"

Miss Jones answered him. "We had it shipped over here a few days ago. It's to take Mr. Smith and I to the campsite, and to drop each pair off at their destination."

"Pairs?" asked Ryou, his face dropping. "We're doing this in pairs?"

"That's right." She grinned. "Don't worry, you'll get to choose groups."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, not noticing the self satisfied smirk on Miss Jones' face.

They settled down to enjoy their second night on the island, realizing only too well that this would be the last time they would sleep comfortably. Ryou resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to forgive Marik, so resentfully agreed to sleep in their tent that night.

Kaiba, to his pleasant surprise, found himself tired rather quickly. He knew it was because normally he spent all day at his desk, be it at school or at work. When he had to exert himself physically, he actually needed more than his basic five hours a night. He could get away from Bakura's voice for once.

As for everyone else, they went to sleep soundly knowing that their partner was sleeping beside them, and if they indeed were allowed to choose, the next three days would be a breeze.

Sunday, 9 am

After a Saturday that was so tiring and so boring that it had passed by virtually unnoticed, they were beginning to get excited about the prospect of the challenge ahead.

"Well, well everyone." Said the teacher, who had them all gathered around. "Now that you've packed your bags for the next three days, I think we're ready to start." She picked something out of her bag. It was six pairs of handcuffs.

"Now, let's get started. I want you to divide yourselves into two groups, with six members each."

They excitedly did so. In group 1 was Yugi, Yami, Tea, Tristan, Mai, and Joey. In group 2 were Ryou, Bakura, Marik, Yami Marik, Duke and Kaiba.

"OK. I'm sure you know already that you're going to be spending the next three days in pairs, trying your best to complete the challenge we've set for you. The challenge is this: You need to find the campsite that we've set up. The two of us will be there, and the first pair to arrive will receive a prize. Now, there is just one catch. I've chosen the pairs."

Amid several gasps and cries of "Oh, God, why?", Miss Jones smirked and brandished a list. "Please step forward, Yugi Moto, and Yami Bakura."

They were unwillingly guided forward by the hand of the teacher standing behind them.

"Now, put your hands out." She said delightedly. They did so. A mistake.

"What the - "

"You're handcuffed together for the next three days, boys. There'll be no trying to get out of it, because if you arrive at the campsite uncuffed your punishment will be to climb that mountain again. And don't think I won't follow through on my threats."

Bakura looked angrily at Kaiba, as though it were somehow his fault. Yugi was almost in tears. "Yami!" he cried, looking pitifully at his Yami, as if he could get him out of this situation.

"All right. Next pair. Step right up, Tea Gardner and Yami Marik!"

Tea looked aghast, but like a professional, stepped forward and offered her hand. She was handcuffed to Yami Marik.

Duke giggled. "So many kinky jokes to be made."

Yami Marik glared at him. "You won't think it's so funny when you get put with one of them." He growled.

"Joey Wheeler and Marik Ishtar!"

"Ah, no!" yelled Joey. " I don't wanna go with him!"

She raised her eyebrows. "And why not?"

Joey narrowed his eyes. "Because he's a fucking psychopath."

"Well, that's just too bad." She said gleefully. She cuffed them.

"Mai Valentine and Duke Devlin." She announced, once Joey and Marik were safely out of the way.

They all had a private giggle at this one. If these two ever stopped arguing about whose hair was better it would be a miracle, let alone reach the campsite.

Kaiba was beginning to get nervous. There were only two people left he could be paired with. He prayed to any deity listening to get Tristan. Tristan he could handle. Tristan was OK. Completely devoid of personality, but OK.

"Ryou Bakura and Tristan Taylor."

"Noooooo!" cried Kaiba, crumbling to his knees. "Why? Why would you do this to me?"

She shrugged. "Because, it's fun."

Ryou and Tristan smiled at each other and stepped forward. They were the only pair, they knew, that had a shot of getting to the campsite in less than three days. It was in the bag.

"And our final pair. Seto Kaiba and Yami Yugi." She said, seeming to savour every word.

Kaiba was being difficult. "No! I won't do it. I won't go with that fucking pharaoh. I hate him!"

"Now, Kaiba, stop being so childish. That's not like you, now is it?"

Kaiba gave her a venemous glare. "If he so much as talks to me, I'm suing you." He snapped, but reluctantly allowed himself to be cuffed.

All the pairs were complete, and none of them looked happy, except Tristan and Ryou, who were practically giddy.

"Well. I guess it's time to get going, eh?"

She was met with nothing but disdain and hatred.

END OF CH 4


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own it at all

A/N: Ok, it's been too long...I have no idea what has been happening in the fic or what I was going to do but I'll carry on anyhow...

Survival Island chapter 5

"Poke poke!"

"STOP THAT!" Kaiba exclaimed, batting Bakura's fingers away, irritated.

"Aw, come on, Kaiba, you really have no sense of fun." Bakura grinned in his twisted little way at a glaring Kaiba. They were sitting in the back of the Jeep, most members of the party grimacing and giving the evils to the teachers. But unfortunately the only people who could give decent evils were Kaiba and Bakura. When Yami tried to do it, it looked like he was leering in a pervy sort of way, and when Marik tried to do it, it just looked like he was having trouble seeing.

"Would you have a sense of fun if you were in my situation, Bakura? Do you realize who I'm handcuffed to?"

"Your mum?"

"Arrrrgh!" Kaiba leaned over in a vain attempt to try to strangle Bakura.

"Bakura...Kaiba doesn't like your mum jokes..." said Ryou warningly.

Bakura shrugged. "Too late."

The tomb robber had not been acting like an especially supportive friend since Kaiba had been unfortunate enough to be tied to the one person he truly couldn't stand (apart from Joey, of course). In fact, he had been taking every opportunity to make as much fun of him as possible. Yami, who, of course, had to endure the constant insults and taunts, did not say a word. He wished like mad that Yugi would talk to him, but the timid boy did not say a word in defence of his Yami, probably for fear that he would get the crap beaten out of him by Kaiba, who was in a worse mood than they'd ever seen him. Even worse than the time when he'd caught Bakura sneaking out of his house at three in the morning, arms full of Kaiba's porn collection.

Two couples had already been dropped off at their starting destinations, Tea and Yami Marik and Mai and Duke. They were gonna be dropped off by the Jeep at different locations all across the island (which was, apparently, larger than first thought). They had three days to find the campsite, which was hidden in a secret location somewhere on the island. The first team to reach it won first prize. Tea and Yami Marik had exited the vehicle in area that resembled very much a boggy sort of swamp, with Tea whimpering in displeasure, and Bakura and Marik catcalling and generally enjoying the situation very much. Mai and Duke had been left in the middle of a dense forested area, both checking their mirrors the entire way through Miss Jones' explanation of what they had to do.

And now four couples remained. The Jeep pulled up on the shore of a small lake. The water was green and murky, and they were all willing to bet nothing very pleasant lived in there.

"Yugi Moto, Bakura. You get out here."

Yugi and Bakura stepped out, Yugi positively shaking with fear, Bakura looking bored.

"Bye, Yami!" whispered Yugi tentatively. "I'll see you soon!"

Yami nodded, giving his light a reassuring smile. The last thing he wanted was for Yugi to be afraid. He glared at Bakura. "Tomb robber," he began, "do anything to hurt my hikari and I swear to Ra I'll make sure you never leave the Shadow Realm."

Bakura raised his eyebrows. "Pharaoh," he began, "Fuck around with Kaiba and I swear to Ra I'll rip out your entrails and feed them to my cat."

Yami was speechless.

"See," said Bakura with a satisfied smile. "My threats kick your threat's asses."

With that, Yugi and Bakura stalked away. Well, Bakura stalked, Yugi couldn't stalk, all he could do was run along like a lost sheep.

Yami pouted and looked at Kaiba. "He doesn't have a cat."

Kaiba grimaced. "Yes he does."

"Oh yeah? What's it called?"

"Furry."

"Original."

The party continued on. Tristan and Ryou were next to be dropped off. Everyone, even Kaiba, managed to wave them goodbye and wish them luck. Marik, a pouty expression on his face, gave Ryou a massive hug before he left, after apologizing for the gecko incident. "I'm sorry, Ryou, but it was just too funny."

Ryou gave him the evils (ish). "That's not an apology." He muttered.

Next to go were Joey and Marik. Yami bid Joey good luck, Kaiba did the same for Marik. "If you survive even one hour chained to that pathetic mutt I'll let you and Bakura keep my DVD player." He said sincerely.

Yami and Kaiba were, for the first time since their handcuffing, left all alone. When the Jeep finally arrived at their allocated spot, Kaiba and Yami disembarked and looked around. The outlook was not positive. They were surrounded by woodland, their view was blocked by a mountain, and they were, essentially, in the middle of nowhere. With nothing but each other for company.

They had all been told that there was plenty of food scattered around the island, but none of them relished the thought of eating food they'd caught themselves. And Joey was the worst off – Marik was the pickiest person in the known universe, and wouldn't eat fruit, vegetables, most meats, potatoes, dairy, anything remotely healthy, basically. His staple foods were candy, chocolate, pie, and, oddly enough, dried apricots.

Kaiba glance at his surroundings. The woodland was tall, deciduous forest, lush green grasses growing under the canopy of trees, lichens and mosses crawling their way up the trunks. The air was hot and sticky; Kaiba could feel his brow beginning to sweat already...

This sucked in every way possible. Yami was already dragging him off to Ra only knew where, and Kaiba was too tired and uncomfortable to protest.

-----------------

"Hold on a minute."

Mai sighed. "What? What is it now?"

"W-where's my hair gel?"

"What?"

"It was right here! And now it's totally gone! Did you take it?" Duke demanded.

"Of course not. I have my own. Remember, we put our hair products in the little cavern up on the mountainside, to make sure they wouldn't get stolen or eaten by bears or something? And then before we left we..."

"Yeah?"

"We didn't go to get them. Did we?"

All the colour drained out of Duke's face. "You have to be joking. Please tell me you have something."

Mai started burrowing frantically in her bag. "Oh sweet Ra, no. No! Nothing's here!"

"Nothing? So you haven't got hairspray?"

"No!"

"Or gel? Wax? _A comb?_"

"None of it! I don't even have a mirror!"

Duke trembled. "Mai. We're going back up the mountain."

--------------------------------

"OK, Ryou! Let's get going!"

Ryou squealed in delight, still unable to believe his luck. He really couldn't have been put with anyone better. OK, so Tristan was boring at the best of times, but at least he and Ryou were unlikely to fight. If Ryou had been put in a team with his closest friend, he and Marik would have probably spent the entire time at each other's throats about one thing or another. One thing being Bakura. Another being Kaiba. And he dreaded to think what would have happened if he and Bakura were in a team. Bakura was no good at navigating, but there was no way he'd let Ryou help. And there was, of course, the fear of having horrible pranks played on him every few minutes. Yami Marik wouldn't be much better. He feared being parted from Duke, his partner in crime, for more than a couple of hours, so it was more than likely that at this current moment, Tea was being forced to try and find him rather than the campsite.

Ryou grinned. This was going to be a breeze.

"Do you know which way is North on here, Ryou?"

Ryou rolled his eyes. "It's that one that says North, Tristan." Evidently Tristan was no better at navigation than Bakura. Ryou would have to take charge for once. "Let me hold the compass, Tristan. See, it's this way."

Ryou pulled on the handcuffs and with that they had set off.

-------------------------------

"No!"

"Yes!"

"For the last fucking time, no! We cannot eat poisonous berries!"

"But I'm so hungry!" Joey cried.

Marik glared. "You ate a burger two hours ago! For breakfast!"

"But...I'm so hungry!"

Marik pouted. Even his famous high spirits and enthusiasm were beginning to wear thin. And after only an hour in the company of Joey Wheeler. How could any human be expected to put up with this for three days?

"I think we need to go find the campsite now Joey. Just think, the sooner we're there, the sooner you can eat."

Joey brightened at this. Marik rolled his eyes. He didn't know that it was possible, but he had found someone more childish than he was.

* * *

A/N: Um...review? Free cookies if you do! 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh.

A/N: OK, so it's been a while...again. Whoopsy. At least I haven't totally forgotten about this fic.

Oh, and by the way, cookies to anyone who spots the genuine Yu Gi Oh line in this chapter! It's in the dub though.

Survival Island chapter 6

Seto Kaiba had never hated his life more. He had been through some pretty tough shit. He had been orphaned, adopted by a tyrant, orphaned again, and pretty much worked every day of his life. And put up with his only friend (if you could even call him that) stealing from his house every other week. But none of that compared to this. Being dragged around a hot, bug-filled island by the pharaoh. On an empty stomach and 3 hours sleep.

Damn Mokuba. Damn him to hell. "Oh, you have to go, Seto!" "It'll be fun!" "Bakura'll be there!"

Yeah. Right. Like Bakura was here now, in his most desperate time of need? Not that it would be much fun if he were, he would just spend the whole time making fun of Seto's unfortunate current predicament.

"Kaiba? You're lagging behind. What's the problem?" Oh, goody, the pharaoh's dulcet tones to lull him out of his pleasant daydreams involving killing the pharaoh violently.

"What's the problem? Oh, uh, that would be you. More specifically, that I hate you. You need it any clearer than that?"

"Look, Kaiba. We have our differences, I know that as well as anyone. But like we worked together when we defeated the five headed dragon, or Noah, we can work together now. I'd like to think you could show a bit more maturity."

"Well, I'd like to think of you being set on fire, but we can't always have what we want, now can we?"

"Kaiba! Don't you harbour any thoughts towards me that aren't violent? Can't you at least be grateful to me, at least a little?"

"Why, for all the times you've given me help I didn't want and didn't need? Well, thanks a lot, your majesty."

Yami growled irritatedly. "You're hopeless! You never used to be quite this bad. You even thanked me once. As we were leaving the virtual world. Remember?"

Kaiba feigned innocence. "No."

Yami narrowed his eyes. "Yes you do."

The next several hours were spent much in a similar vein to this. No casual observer could have told the difference if they were, in fact, bitchy fourteen year old girls. After three hours walking around aimlessly, several quite possibly poisonous mushrooms consumed, and an inordinate number of taunts about Yami's hair, the two of them eventually sat down.

"I don't see why you have to be so inconsiderate all the time." Muttered Yami. "It's not as if you're evil or crazy. You have a brain, Kaiba, use it. Rise above it, for Ra's sake."

"You're starting to sound like your pathetic hikari." Snapped Kaiba.

"I'd much rather sound like Yugi that sound like you." Retorted Yami. "I swear you get more and more like Bakura every day."

"That was really low, pharaoh. And you have the nerve to call me inconsiderate."

"Look. I think we're agreed that the next three days are going to be unpleasant. But we can make it a lot less so if we make a pact to just try to be civil to each other. We don't have to like it. We don't have to be nice. But we can't be at each other throats for the rest of the time, or else we'll end up killing ourselves, or each other, before the time is up."

Kaiba considered this for a moment. As much as he hated to admit it, Yami was probably right. They could hardly afford to be bitching at each other for the next three days straight. "Fine. I agree. We can be...civil."

Yami proffered his hand stiffly. Kaiba looked at it suspiciously, before reluctantly shaking it.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh, for Ra's sake, stand up. You're pathetic. And spineless. And all those other negative adjectives."

Yugi whimpered even more. "Bakura...my legs hurt. Please just let me sit down. It's not my fault I have to run to keep up with you."

"Well, it's not my fault your legs are about a quarter the size of mine."

"It's not mine either!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let's sit down. But, little Yugi, I don't want to be out here any longer than necessary. So you better hurry up."

Yugi looked at him tearfully. "You're no fun at all. You're a bad evil spirit and I hate you!"

"I hate your face."

Yugi, however, did not laugh. He just burst into fresh tears.

"Well, come on, little Yugi. We could...make this a bit more fun."

Yugi peered out of his hands long enough to give Bakura a suspicious look. "Like...how?"

"Well, how about a little...contest, shall we say? On the outcome of this task?"

Yugi gasped. "A bet? I don't gamble." He said firmly.

Bakura cackled with laughter. "Come on, you woman! Live a little! That's what we're here for. Just a little wager...what do you say?"

Yugi still looked doubtful."I don't know..."

"My Ra in heaven! You're so boring! I miss Kaiba a ridiculous amount, and that's saying a lot."

"Well, how can we bet on the task anyway? We're on the same team."

Bakura shrugged. "I know. I bet you that your pathetic pharaoh friend and Kaiba come in last."

Yugi's eyes widened and he shook his head. "No way! Yami's gonna do great!"

Bakura laughed again. "If you think so, why don't you bet? Clearly you have a lot of faith in your Yami."

Yugi still looked reluctant for a brief moment, but then nodded. "OK. So what are the terms?"

"If I win (that is to say, if the pharaoh and Kaiba reach the campsite last), then you have to spend the entire of the last day in the frilliest, most girly dress that Tea owns."

Yugi looked grim, but nodded carefully. "And if I win?"

Bakura looked thoughtful. "If you win...Oh! I know! I'll steal Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragons and give them to you. How's that?"

Yugi shook his head firmly. "First of all, I don't steal. Second of all, I'd never trust you to give them away. And third of all, I don't believe for a minute you'd take something that valuable from Kaiba. His material possessions, yes, something that means that much to him, no. You care about him waaaay too much."

This earned him a swift smack on the head. "Just because Seto is a good deal more entertaining than any of you clowns, does not mean I _care_ about him."

Yugi shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not agreeing to those terms."

"All right, then what do you suggest?"

"If I win, you have to stop being horrible to the pharaoh. In fact, you have to actively be nice to him. And try to make Kaiba do the same."

Bakura gave a low menacing laugh. "I agree to your ridiculous terms, Yugi. You cannot win!"

Yugi looked very scared.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Get up! Please, please get up!" Tea's blue-grey eyes stared pleadingly into Yami Marik's psychotic purple ones, and he responded by staying firmly put.

Yami Marik was sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere with the single most irritating thing he had ever met. Including Kaiba. There was no way they were going to win this damn challenge, so he decided to make her life as horrible as possible until someone came and drove them back to civilisation. Yami Marik had only been alive 8 years, and he much preferred the city life to this...whatever this was. This was being a wild animal. If only he really was one, then perhaps he could tear this excuse for a human to pieces.

OK, so he was in a bad mood. Tea wasn't making it any better.

"Oh, come on, Marik! Please! If you don't move, I'll have to drag you!"

He snorted. "I am literally 17 times stronger than you. I'd like to see you try."

Tea sighed. "This is going to be no fun."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

Tea gave him her best menacing stare, but it held pretty much no water where Yami Marik was concerned.

"Well, OK, if you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to reason."

Yami Marik looked up. "Who? Where?"

Tea folded her arms. "Reason! I mean, if you think about it logically..."

Yami Marik groaned. "Aw, I hate doing that."

"...Then maybe you'd realise the quickest way to reunite with Duke is to actually try and win this game. He is your best friend, isn't he?"

Another snort. "Look, you...thing. We don't do that mindless friendship act you and your pathetic cronies seem to love so much. We hang out because we can cause twice as much panic and terror with two of us than we can alone."

Tea raised an eyebrow. "And what about Marik and Ryou? Don't tell me those two really just want to cause "panic and terror" the whole time."

"I'm not going to sit here and explain the dynamic of our little group to you, pharaoh's cheerleader. Figure it out on your own."

Tea rose to the bait. "Fine. You and Duke are...partners in crime. You and Marik?"

Yami Marik sighed. He wasn't getting out of this one. "Yami and Hikari. I instruct him in the ways of evil occasionally."

"Ryou and Marik?"

"Like a couple of PMS-ing women, but permanent. Ryou keeps Hikari in line most of the time, I expect."

"And...Kaiba and Bakura?"

"Ra knows. We don't want to know, frankly. They're basically just an antisocial rich boy and an antisocial thief. Not exactly the perfect team, but to be honest, they seem to have found something in each other that no one else has. Basically, they hate all of humanity except for each other. And Ra only knows why."

Tea raised her eyebrows. "OK. Doesn't make sense to me. Kaiba could make it up with all of us, instead of hang out with that evil tomb robber, and I don't know why he doesn't. Yami would be a much better friend."

Yami Marik laughed. "Girlie, don't you get it? We all hate the pharaoh. He's the worst pseudo-person we've ever met, and we'd rather slit our own throats than hang out with that arrogant, pompous, thinks-he's-the-saviour-of-the-world-and-anyone-else-who-might-oppose-him-must-be-evil piece of crap."

Tea pouted. "You don't know what you're talking about. Yami's not like that. He's sensitive, and kind, and - "

"He's an egotistical, self-righteous little shit. Get over it."

"So is Kaiba..."

"Yeah, maybe, but Kaiba's arrogant in a self-serving way. The pharaoh hides behind a facade of goodness. Makes you wonder how more people haven't joined the dark side if the champion of all that is good is that prick."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of chapter!!!!!

Win: Mmkay, Tea, I'm sooooorry.

Tea: But...why did you have to make me so annoying?

Win: Because it's fun.

Tea: But you like me.

Win: ...it's true. You are significantly better than all the other female characters.

Tea: If you're not careful I'll call Kisara and make her join us in the fic.

Win:...you wouldn't.

Tea: Oh, I would.

A/N: So yeah, sorry for the Tea-bashing if you're a fan. Oh, and about the pharaoh-bashing...I'm not at all sorry. Damn that pharaoh.

A/N again: So, yeah, it's really really annoying having to write Yami Marik all the time so I'm thinking about changing him to Marik and Marik to Malik. whatcha think? I don't want to confuse people.

A/N one more time for good measure: this won't be shonenai. Sorry. I'd like to retain at least some of my audience that aren't yaoi fangirls like me:). And also, I want to write at least one fanfic that doesn't have it in. So far this is the only one. :D


	7. Chapter 7

A/N; Hm, no excuses. It has been a very long time. Oh yeah. I changed it to Malik and Marik.

Chapter 7 – The Case of the Large Bird

"OK, so where the hell are we now?"

"Tristan!"

"Sorry. I know you hate cursing. But to be fair, you must have to put up with a hell of a lot."

"Tristan!"

"Sorry!"

Ryou sighed. He was fruitlessly attempting to navigate. The compass was not working. Just broken. Tristan did not see how a compass could just stop working, and Ryou was racking his brains trying to figure out why. It wouldn't point them North, no matter how much they shook it and bashed it against the nearest tree and swore at it and stamped on it. Honestly, it was a shock it wasn't working perfectly... The only option they were now faced with was crossed the gigantic river in front of them with three hands. That is, three hands in total. Unless they could fashion a boat of some sort. Ryou's boat-fashioning skills weren't exactly word, and Tristan wasn't much better. But they didn't see a bridge, or any other way around it.

"OK, so we could always just swim. Why don't we try that?" asked Tristan.

Ryou looked pained. "I'm not very good at swimming even with both my hands. And...well, what if there are crocodiles in there?"

Tristan sighed. "There are not crocodiles in there. Do you really think they would bring us on a school trip that would kill us?"

"Uh, let me think about that one. Our two teachers have handcuffed us together and abandoned us for three days with no food, or water. Yes, Tristan, I do."

Tristan narrowed his eyes. "You know, you've picked up a real sarcastic streak from Bakura. Or possibly Malik. "

"Malik's never sarcastic, just honest. He doesn't get sarcasm."

Tristan nodded. "Er, right. So how are we intending to get across, then, if there are crocodiles in there as you claim?"

Ryou huffed. "Well, we'll just have to make a boat. There are plenty of branches around here, look at all the trees. We'll just string them together and there you go, a raft."

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a lot harder than you make it sound?"

9090909090909090090900

Kaiba was now quite literally sitting on the floor. He had never done such a thing in his life. He hated the floor and everything about it. He could not stop himself from imagining what that imbecile Joey Wheeler would say if he could see him now.

Yami had insisted they stop for lunch. As if the pharaoh couldn't get any more irritating. He claimed sitting down together by the fire, roasting some freshly caught fish would be "really fun". All Kaiba had heard was "Bonding session. Run fast!"

Besides, neither Yami nor Kaiba knew how to fish. Neither had ever had to, in any of their lives. Yami sarcastically commented that they had finally found something Kaiba couldn't do, and Kaiba had made a snide comment about Yami's hair. His insults were wearing thin on the ground after having spent so much time with the pharaoh, and he was now having to repeat stuff.

"So...Kaiba." Yami began hopefully, glancing in Kaiba's direction, hoping to elicit some response from him other than his usual grunt of acknowledgement. "How's Mokuba?"

Kaiba glared. "None of your damn business, pharaoh."

Yami sighed. "What ever happened to that whole "being civil to each other" thing that we came up with? Do you recall that at all?"

"Sarcasm isn't nice, pharaoh."

"I suppose you're beginning to get on my nerves."

"_I'm _getting on _your _nerves? Do you realise what you just said?"

"Very funny, Kaiba. I've given up on you. I used to think maybe something could be done. About you, I mean. Maybe if we extended the hand of friendship to you, you would realise that Bakura and Marik aren't really the best company in the world. Clearly our purpose has been lost on you."

"Clearly."

Yami looked down at his shoes. His expression was somewhat gloomy. "OK. I'll let it go. I give up on you, Seto Kaiba."

"Good. Glad we've cleared that up." Retorted Kaiba. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go find that fucking campsite and get away from you as soon as possible, so get up."

"...OK."

9090909090909090909090

"No! I mean it, Duke Devlin!"

"Come on, Mai! We need those things. My hair gel is up there! And so is your favourite lipgloss..."

Mai Valentine tossed her puffy blonde hair, frowning at Duke. "I can get it replaced. We don't have time for this, Devlin. We're going to win this challenge. What do you think Joey will say if I lose to him?"

Duke rolled his eyes. "If he gets to score with you on a regular basis, I really think it's highly unlikely he'll say anything."

"That's not the point. The humiliation. To lose to that dumb kid. And that's nothing compared to how I'd feel if Yami and Kaiba beat us. Frankly, I'd be surprised if either of them make it to the camp alive."

"Winning is not the most important thing, Mai!"

Mai scoffed. "It's much more important than your hair products. Besides, what do I care? I look fabulous whether I'm wearing makeup or not, honey." She winked at Duke.

"I don't care. We're still going back to get them. I'm stronger than you. You're just a girl."

Mai laughed at him. "We'll see." She smirked.

90909090909090909090909

"So, is friendship really not important to you? I don't see how that could be. It makes no sense."

Marik growled. "Your face makes no sense..." he muttered.

"What was that?" asked Tea, blinking at him.

"I said I like your shirt." Said Marik.

"Do you really? It's my favourite shirt! I got it from this totally cute store at the new mall. Have you seen it? It's that one next to the gadget shop. I was thinking of getting it in yellow, but pink seemed to work so much better! What do you think?"

"I think it's going to be a long three days." Replied Marik.

Tea looked hurt. "Well...anyway. It's getting late, do you want to set up here for the night?"

"Night? Little girl, do you really think an ancient spirit such as myself needs to sleep? Foolishness!"

Tea scowled. "You picked that word up from Bakura. Besides, Yami-kun sleeps. And doesn't Bakura?"

"You'd have to ask Kaiba."

"Well. If they sleep, so can you. You all got yourselves corporealised(1). You eat and drink and stuff."

"It's not that I can't sleep, it's just that I don't have to. Which means we can keep going 24 hours a day."

Tea looked like she was about to cry. "But...I need to sleep. Don't I?"

Marik cackled, a cackle Tea hadn't heard since the Battle City days. "Well, girlie! That's too bad for you. You'll learn to go without for a while. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Tea whimpered. "...Yes, Marik."

909090909090909090909090909090909090909

Ryou and Tristan were now sitting in a boat. Yes. A boat.

"This is _not _a boat." Cried Ryou as he and Tristan stepped back to admire their handiwork. "That's a death by drowning waiting to happen."

"Must you always criticise my plans?"

"When they involve death by drowning, yes!"

"Just get in the boat."

"I think what you mean is, get on the large sticks taped together barely floating in the shallow water."

"..Yes. That is what I meant."

"Tristan. We can't do this without the compass."

"What the hell is wrong with that thing, anyway?"

Ryou pouted. "I don't know. I'm not an expert on compasses."

"I thought you were an expert on everything."

Ryou scowled. "Well, I couldn't say. I'm sure it'll be fine again soon. We'll check it once again when we get across the river. Sorry, I mean _if _we get across the river. At the moment all it's doing is sort of wobbling around the south east area."

"Well, we need to go directly North from here."

"Well, if it's not pointing North, it's not working, so I'm not trusting it. We'll just have to make our own way for a while."

"So we're agreed. We're going in the boat."

"What if there are sharks?"

"Ryou! That's even less likely than the crocodile idea. Just get in."

90909090909909090909

Yugi and Bakura were not having much more luck than Tristan and Ryou. They had long since given up on attempting to work their own compass, and instead were wandering aimlessly alongside a small stream. By this time, it was almost nightfall, and Yugi was beginning to worry about the perils of being on an island at night, alone. Well, not alone, but with Bakura, so as good as alone.

"Can we set up camp here? I'm a little jumpy in the dark. We have a tent, right?"

Bakura shrugged. "Probably. Let me check the supply bag."

After some rummaging, Bakura located an extremely small and rather mildew-infested tent. He grinned toothily at his companion. "Ready to set up camp, little Yugi?"

Yugi shuddered. He was a little frightened of Bakura at the best of times. Handcuffed to him at night on a cold, scary island was NOT one of the best of times. But he couldn't let Bakura know that. Yami would forever be massively overprotective if he let on that Bakura frightened him.

"Sure. Right here is fine."

They spent approximately two hours attempting to set up the tent, which, not surprisingly, neither of them had ever done before, and proved to be somewhat of a challenge three handed. By the time they had finished, it was completely dark, so getting inside the tent proved a challenge as well. On top of that, it was far too small for Bakura's liking. Kaiba was one thing, but sleeping right next to a small child with hair that was so pointy it was frankly dangerous was another thing. And as he discovered to his intense dismay, Yugi had an unnerving habit of clinging on to Bakura when he was sleeping.

"Mmmm...Tea." murmured Yugi in his sleep.

"I am _not _Tea." Hissed Bakura, but to no avail. Yugi was fast asleep.

909090909090909099090909090

"Did you know there are 6 raft-related deaths per year and over 1000 injuries that require hospitalisation?" Hissed Ryou, in between squeaks.

Tristan sighed. "No, I did not. I'm not even going to ask how you know that. Just keep paddling for a little longer."

Ryou pouted. "I can't. My hands are getting chilly. Why didn't you think of this?"

"You're supposed to be the one who thinks of everything, why didn't you bring something with you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry that I didn't anticipate that we'd need raft paddles!"

It was a further ten minutes before they reached the other side of the river.

"That was pathetic. We should have just swum across." Complained Tristan.

Ryou narrowed his eyes. "What? And get eaten by the crocodiles? I don't think – oh my gosh!"

"What?"

"Look at that large bird!"

"Where?"

"There!"

Ryou pointed at a large crow or raven of fair size.

"That bird's not that large."

"Yes it is. It's a large bird. I'm getting a picture." Ryou procured his expensive camera from his pocket and aimed it at the large bird.

"Well. That was thrilling. I've not seen a bird as large as that before."

"You need to get out more."

"My dad will love these pictures."

"...Your dad needs to get out more."

END CHAPTER

A/N: OK, about the large bird. I saw this really large bird on my street. It wasn't really that large, but it was big and black and kinda cool. I got a little overexcited, methinks. Anyway, I thought I would put it into this fic for no apparent reason.

(1)I may have invented this word. Possibly.


	8. Chapter 8

The part where I apologize for being so lame: I'm going to finish this fic. I'm determined to do so. But if I'm going to have any chance of doing so, I'm going to have to start winding it up. So, a few more chapters to go. I don't want it to be uber-long. Also, sorry for the late update. I can't promise this chapter will make sense, but then, nor did any of the preceding chapters.

Chapter Eight – The Chasm of Doom

Day Two. All was quiet on the island. The birds chirped, the frogs croaked, and the faint sound of an evil tyrannical Dark growling as he was forcibly dragged out of bed was heard.

"Bakura! You need to get up, everyone else is probably miles ahead of us by now."

Growl. "Fuck...right...off." muttered Bakura, burying his face in his makeshift pillow (his knapsack).

"Bakura, please!" Yugi pleaded with the sinister yami. He was not going to resort to poking. He wanted to keep his hands, thank you very much.

Bakura merely scowled his face off and shoved Yugi over, who proceeded to land face-first in a pile of mud. "Unless there's beer, pizza, and/or your mother naked, I'm not getting out of the tent before midday. Do you really think I give two shits whether or not we win?"

"But, Bakura, what about the bet? If we lose to Yami and Kaiba you'll have to start being nice to them. Do you really want that? People wouldn't know what to think."

"All the more reason to do it. Activities are always more fun if they result in people thinking you've lost your sanity. What remains of it, anyway."

"I just can't win with you, can I?"

"Nope."

"Well, too bad." Yugi glowered. "It's after twelve, and that means you have to get up. I bet everyone else is nearly there by now." Yugi fretted, biting into a cranberry cereal bar.

"You bet?" Bakura was intrigued. "How much? Would you bet me that candy bar, I'm fucking starving."

Yugi rolled his eyes and pulled on his rucksack. Being chained to a madman wasn't nearly as much fun as it might sound.

-----------------------------------------

Yugi, of course, had been entirely incorrect. There was only one other pair awake at all, and that was, predictably, Ryou and Tristan. Despite Marik's protestations that they could function well enough without sleep, Tea had fallen over asleep while they were walking. Aggravated with carrying around dead weight, Marik had given in and slept. Mai and Duke had spent the night arguing about where they were going. After reaching the decision to go back up the mountain to retrieve their precious hair products, they collapsed in tiredness. Yami and Kaiba were awake, but each was feigning sleep to avoid having to acknowledge the presence of the other.

Ryou and Tristan, having made it successfully over the not-at-all-crocodile-infested lake, had discovered the next morning that the compass was now working correctly and pointing north. They had been gleefully following it every since, occasionally stopping for food or because Ryou had started crying when he thought he saw a spider.

"For the love of...Ryou, it was just a fly. Just a big, eight-legged fly, you get them everywhere on this island."

Ryou glared. "I'm not stupid, Tristan, I know what a spider looks like. I don't _like _spiders." He shivered.

"Can we just get going? We could potentially win this thing now we've got the compass working. Don't you think?"

Ryou sighed. He knew perfectly well that he and Tristan were going to win, they were the only pair, other than potentially Mai and Duke, who wouldn't end up scratching each others' eyes out.

"OK. Agh! Is it on me? I feel like it's on me."

Tristan groaned. "You're fine. Let's keep moving."

They made quick progress through the thick jungle, but by lunchtime reached somewhat of an obstacle. A rather large chasm.

"I never knew there was a gorge on this island." Remarked Ryou.

"Oh, we're never going to win now. Why didn't anyone think to inform us that the layout of this island is basically that of any Indiana Jones movie? I suppose next you'll be telling me we've got to find a vine and swing across."

Ryou shook his head. "That has about as much chance of working as Yami and Kaiba do of arriving at camp and declaring their undying love for one another."

"I.e. none."

"Well, that's what I was going for, yes. Do you have any bright ideas?"

"Pretty sure that's your job."

Ryou sighed. "Why do I agree to these things?"

"So, you got nothing, huh?"

"No."

"Right. Well, I could use a break. You wanna sit down and eat lunch and we can figure out something to do after?"

Ryou nodded gratefully. "Food sounds good. There's not much to eat on this island."

They found an appropriate rock upon which to sit, and Tristan apparently found an appropriate time to quiz Ryou on the state of his relationship with his friends. One friend in particular.

"So. You and Malik, huh?"

Ryou looked perplexed. "Excuse me?"

"How's that going?"

Ryou shrugged. "Fine, I guess. He tried to assault me with a gecko two nights ago, so not wonderful."

Tristan looked confused. "Well, er, I guess if you're into that sort of thing..."

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "What do you think a gecko is, Tristan?"

Tristan blanched. "What is it? Do I want to know?"

Ryou grinned. "It's a type of lizard, Tristan. Do you know what a lizard is?"

"Very funny. Yes, I know what a lizard is."

Ryou sighed. "Honestly, do you ever pay attention to anything I say? I told you all about them on the plane. Obviously Mai's cleavage was more interesting."

Tristan spluttered. "Did you just make a lewd joke?"

"You must be rubbing off on me."

"That's what she sa - "

"DON'T."

"Sorry. Anyway, so what I really meant to ask was, what _is _going on between you and Malik? We're all speculating, but no one really seems to know anything for definite."

"Let me get this straight. Joey, Yugi, Tea and Yami spend their time discussing my possible gay sex life with the ex-tomb keeper and all around villain that once brainwashed them?"

Tristan looked abashed. "Fine! _I _was curious, OK. I wanted to know."

Ryou smiled, satisfied. "Well, here it is. Nothing. There is absolutely nothing in the way of romance happening between me and Malik. In fact, I happen to know that he has a crush on somebody else."

"Really? Who?"

"Honestly, Tristan, I never knew you were such a gossip queen. Our deep, meaningful conversation about lizards and gay sex has been reduced to this. You've really lowered the tone." Ryou laughed.

Tristan looked at his old friend with a newfound respect. "I'm sorry." He said suddenly.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For saying all that stuff on the plane about how you never hang out with us anymore. Now that I've been spending time with you again, I can see that you hanging out with that group has actually had a positive impact on you."

"You think?"

"Yeah. I mean, we always kinda thought that those guys would have a bad influence on you, but you're funnier, less shy, you stand up for yourself more. It's great."

"Well. Thanks, Tristan. I never really noticed. Honestly."

"Cool. Now tell me who Malik likes."

"I really don't think I should. It's not something he's actually considering doing anything about."

"OK. Is it a girl or a guy?"

"Guy."

"At least you admit that much."

"Sexuality within our group appears to be fairly fluid." Remarked Ryou. "It might equally well have been a girl, we just don't really know any girls. He's never been much of a fan of Tea, and the only girl he's spent any decent length of time with is his sister. You know, Ishizu."

"Go on."

"Well. The person he likes spends all their time playing pranks on people. It seems to be his calling in life. That and inventing silly dice games."

Tristan laughed. "Malik likes Duke? That's hilarious."

Ryou looked stern. "Now do NOT tell anybody, OK? Malik hasn't told anyone but me, and he'd kill me if he knew I told."

"Fine, I won't."

"Now, if we're spilling secrets...anyone you've got your eye on, Tristan?"

Tristan went entirely red. "Well..."

"There is! Tell me who it is!"

"I don't know."

"I'm sure you do know. And now I'm going to know. Come _on, _Tristan, I told you about Malik."

"Fine. I quite like Joey's sister."

"Serenity? Isn't she 14?" Ryou tilted his head in confusion.

"_15, _thank you very much. And she's very mature for her age. It's only three years difference. She's so sweet."

"Does she like you back?"

"As a matter of fact, I took her to a movie last week."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We've been a couple of times now."

"Wow. Does Joey know?"

"No. You can't tell him, either. He'd kick my ass from here to next Tuesday."

Ryou laughed. "That is very true."

"And now you're going to tell me who _you _like. I know there's someone. I just don't know who it is. All I can say is, it better not be Serenity, because I've already had to fight off Duke and Kaiba for her."

Ryou laughed out loud. "I really, really doubt if Kaiba has ever harboured feelings for Serenity."

Tristan folded his arms. "I beat Kaiba. Don't take that away from me."

"I'm sorry, but in Kaiba's case, opposites just don't attract. He would never be attracted to somebody so weak. It's just not in his nature."

"Don't tell me he's gay too."

Ryou frowned. "Like I said, it's not about that. Kaiba is far too complex to be constrained by gender boundaries. He'll only be attracted to someone he finds interesting."

"I can take a pretty good guess as to who, as well."

"Yes?"

"Bakura?"

Ryou sighed. "I don't know. My Yami doesn't really share the details of Kaiba's personal life with me. He did once tell me that Kaiba had a little crush on Ishizu during Battle City. Nothing serious, of course, but he said he respected her more than most women he'd met. Still, that's not really saying a lot."

"I didn't know that."

"A lot went on in Battle City that a lot of people didn't know about. It's too long ago to remember it all properly now, of course. It was when Bakura and I first met Malik."

"And so it began." Grinned Tristan.

"Well, so to speak, yes. Bakura and Malik became friends, sort of. But then, of course, Marik took over and things got completely out of hand."

Tristan laughed. "Yeah, I remember. It was really bad at the time. Mai was in a coma."

Ryou folded his arms. "She was in the Shadow Realm. In case you don't recall, I was there too."

"Yeah. Yeah, I do remember, now that you mention it. What's it like there?"

Ryou shrugged. "Just...dark. When you're not doing anything, time's pretty fluid. You just don't really recognise what's happening to you. It's almost like being half-asleep permanently. You're not quite conscious. And , all of a sudden, I just came back."

"And so did Bakura."

Ryou snorted. "It was all right for him, he can just hole up in Yami's puzzle whenever he feels like it!"

"Ah. Anyway, we seem to have gotten kinda off-topic. You were going to tell me who you liked?"

"I was not."

"Yes you were! Go on."

Ryou shrugged. "Honestly, no one. I used to like that girl from 4A, you know, Miho?"

Tristan nodded. "We haven't spoken in ages, but I know who you mean."

"And then there was Bakura."

"Yeah, I kinda figured."

"Hey, it was reciprocal, you know. He and I went out for 2 months."

"What? _When?_"

"Oh, ages ago. Couple of months after Egypt. Obviously, right after we came back, Yami got his own body, and then we found out Bakura was still alive, and did the same to him. Of course, for the first few weeks things were a bit strained. Tensions were pretty high. But then Bakura and I just decided to try dating. No real reason, or anything."

"What went wrong?"

"I think the thing was, Bakura needs someone who takes a genuine interest in his troubling lack of sanity. He doesn't want attention from people, but really, if he doesn't have someone to take care of him, he'll end up riding Malik's motorbike off the waterfront, or sleeping out on the road again. I couldn't do it. I care about him, so much, sometimes I think too much, but it really doesn't feel like a romantic thing. We know each other too well. He quite literally lived inside my body for almost as long as I can remember. I can take care of him. But I can't take an interest in him, because I already know everything about him, pretty much. Eventually we realised there was no chemistry there, and gave up."

"So this is where Kaiba comes in?"

"They met at one of Malik's house parties. Well, not met, they already sort of knew each other. I've been led to believe that at one point when Bakura took over my body he gave Kaiba the eye he gouged out of Pegasus' face with his bare hand. Which was pleasant to hear. So they had met. But anyway. Marik had just come back. Malik was having a house party to, ahem, celebrate the occasion, and everyone was over there."

Tristan frowned. "I wasn't over there."

"Really? Malik invited the whole friendship crew. This was before we sort of divided off. Malik was still doing that whole thank-you-for-saving-my-soul-oh-great-Pharaoh thing. Anyway, Kaiba and Bakura got to talking, and things just kicked off from there with their bizarre pseudo-friendship."

"And you're sure friendship is all it is?"

Ryou nodded. "Positive. I'd know if anyone did. The thing is, they're both so clever in their own way, and yet so irritatingly dense about anything that concerns romance or the like. They obviously really like each other, but they have no idea what they're doing. Kaiba spends all his time trying to figure out what's going on in Bakura's head, and Bakura spends his being paranoid about whether or not Kaiba's the enemy. He's still not sure. He's just so used to everybody being the enemy. I think that's the problem. He's fine with Kaiba when they're just being friends, or when he's stealing from him, but anything else and he loses it. He freaks and holes up at Marik and Duke's place, gets wasted, listen to music _far _too loud, and crawls back to our dumpy little apartment at 6 in the morning. That's how I know Kaiba's been trying to psychoanalyze him. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be saying all this stuff. For one, Bakura will kill me. For another, I'm probably boring you senseless."

"Not at all." Protested Tristan. "It's nice to get an insight into what's happening there. To be honest, nothing of particular interest goes on in our little six."

"Really? Nothing?"

Tristan shrugged. "I guess there's a similar situation going on with Yami and Tea. Less insane, though, of course."

"Of course."

"The thing is, it's weird for her to like Yami so much because of Yugi. He still has a thing for her, and to find out that it was the Pharaoh she liked all along has been a bit rough on him, I guess. But Yami likes Tea as well. That's the problem. They want to go out, but don't really know how to go about it. I know Egypt was quite a while ago now, but the Pharaoh leaving really hit Tea hard, and he knew it, and left anyway. Then, when he came back, she didn't really know how to feel about it. Because, of course, it was Yugi that he came back for. He wants to date Tea, but he cares about Yugi's feelings more than hers, and he still likes Tea. I do actually feel really sorry for her. She's really drawn the short straw."

"That's sad." Said Ryou. "I didn't know the situation was that bad. At least, I thought it had sort of been vaguely resolved by now."

"Not really."

"Oh. Anything else going on?"

"Not really. As far as I'm aware, Joey and Mai are happy enough, although they fight about three times a day. I really hope me and Serenity work out. And that's about it. Anything more you've got to tell me?"

"Not unless Marik found himself a girlfriend, in which case I have extreme concerns for her sanity, and her life."

"This was kind of cool. Although I do sorta feel like a girl now. Let's talk about manly things."

"I'm not sure I know how to do that."

"Then I suppose we'd better cross that bridge over there."

"Yeah, I noticed that about half an hour ago."

END CHAPTER

Win says: Yes, I know this chapter had a lot of Tristan and Ryou in it, but for some reason I find them easier to write than the other pairs. Also, I know it had a lot of talking and not a lot of action, but what can I say, I love analyzing relationship dynamics. And yeah, I gave up, there's shounen ai, but also some nice het to balance it out.

The good part: I am now motivated to write more of this fic! I shouldn't, since I'm at university and have exams in less than a week. But we all need a revision break. That's my theory.


	9. Chapter 9

Win says: This chapter, a little less conversation, a little more action. Maybe. Also, thank you to the people who reviewed. 

Chapter 9 – The Swamp-Dweller Massacre

So the day passed, at least for Tristan and Ryou, without particular incident. Unless you count yet another spider scare at the other end of the rather precarious rope bridge. Their beloved compass pointed them all the way to a nice clearing in which they could spend their second night chained together, and they set up camp and exchanged further stories throughout the evening.

Alas, the same could not be said for how the remaining five couples spent the day.

________--------__________-----------

"I said, give me the damn map! You cannot navigate!"

"I can navigate just as well as you can." Came the calm reply. "If you would just let me help for once - "

"I don't need any of _your _help, thank you very much."

Needless to say, Yami and Kaiba were not having the best of times. Kaiba snatched the map out Yami's hands and glared at it, as if expecting it to somehow apologize for Yami's poor navigational skills.

"You are even more useless than I thought, Yami."

Yami did not deign to reply. He felt that at this point, to keep silent was the safest option for him. He might have what Kaiba referred to as "bogus magic powers", but Kaiba was undeniably stronger than him. And by now significantly angrier than normal.

It was about three pm. Kaiba suspected he and Yami were travelling in circles. It was all Yami's fault, of course. If only Bakura were there, Kaiba supposed he'd much more useful in this sort of situation. He grinned when he imagined how helpful Bakura was being to Yugi, who doubtless did not inspire the same enthusiasm as Kaiba did, he flattered himself. Still, he was determined he was not going to lose to anyone. Not even Bakura. So he attempted to compose himself and read the practically indecipherable map.

----------------------------------------------------------

Bakura and Yugi were, predictably, not faring much better. Yugi had made the unpleasant discovery that Bakura had managed to smuggle not only several knives on the trip, but also a disturbing amount of alcohol. The yami was knocking back whiskey from the bottle, perched precariously on a tall rock while Yugi, sat next to him, watched anxiously.

"Bakura? Don't you think we should be getting on?"

"You have funny hair."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's lolacious."

"Um. Where did you learn that word?"

"Ha, Duke taught it to me."

"I think you've had enough to drink, Bakura. Particularly as it's only half past three."

Bakura cackled with laughter. "You gotta start early if you're on holiday."

"We're not on holiday, Bakura. We're trying to win a competition. And I don't think your excessive drinking is helping much. What would Kaiba say?"

"Kaiba can go...fuck himself."

"Language, Bakura."

"Kaiba kann gehen und kann sich selbst ficken."

Yugi was momentarily speechless. "I...didn't know you spoke German."

"Neither did I."

"Anyway, you know that's not what I meant!"

"...Can I play with your face?"

Yugi gulped. This was not going to end well.

--------------------------------------

"Ew, no!"

"Yes, little girly, for we must not waste time!"

Tea cringed. She did not _want _to wade through a swamp. An icky, disgusting swamp. She would, if there was no other choice, but to her it seemed very silly to do so when they could just walk around. It was probably actually waste more time to go through the swamp. It looked pretty thick. But there was no use presenting Marik with logic, he would simply decide it was more fun to do whatever the alternative was.

"Marik, NO. We can walk around."

"You don't want to meet the swamp-dwellers?"

"The-the what?"

Marik gave his infamous evil laugh. "The swamp-dwellers! A race of troll-like people that live beneath the murk and gloom of the surface of the swamp. The legend has it that the last time any humans visited this island, they encountered the swamp-dwellers in this very swamp, and they..."

Tea shivered. "They what? What did they do?!"

"They ATE THEIR BRAINS!!! Mwah ha ha ha!"

Tea let out a little scream. "I do NOT want my brain to be troll food! It was bad enough I was almost giant fodder in Noa's virtual world! Never again!"

"Well, I personally think _I _would get on with them like a swamp on fire. Across we go!"

"Nooooo!" Tea howled, as Marik picked her up and carried her bridal-style across the thick, gloomy swamp.

--------------------------

Malik and Joey were snoozing. It was four o clock, after all. Time for a nap.

-----------------------------

"Now, which way was the mountain?"

"You're asking me?" Mai looked perplexed. "Honey, do I really look like directions are my speciality? Master duellist yes, navigator an emphatic NO."

"I think it was that way." Duke pointed to an ominously dark clump of trees.

"Then I guess we go that way."

-------------------------------

"Well, it's almost ten. It's dark. I think we should try and find somewhere to settle for the night." Said Yami.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "It's not that late. We can carry on."

"I'd rather not. Look!"

Kaiba turned his gaze to a large rock, by which stood a small stone hut. "A hut? That's what you're thinking?"

"Well, why not? It's bound to be at least a little warmer in there than out here. At least we'll be more protected from the wind. And rain. Come on, Kaiba. You know it's logical."

Kaiba scowled at him, but begrudgingly agreed. "Fine. We'll go in there for the night. I guess I'd like to get at least one good's night sleep in this hell-hole."

They approached the hut. That was by a giant rock. Perched atop that rock were, unbeknownst to Yami and Kaiba, their respective light and friend/lawsuit waiting to happen. Yugi and Bakura, in other words.

Yugi was barely awake, and Bakura had long since passed out, although not before politely informing Yugi that he looked like the lovechild of a goblin and a tropical bird on acid. Apparently Bakura had on him enough vodka and whiskey to get about eighteen people completely off their faces. And had proceeded to drink half of it himself. While the thief had an unsurprisingly high alcohol tolerance, there were limits. Yugi glanced over at him every so often to make sure he hadn't fallen off the other side of the rock.

------------------------------------------------

Malik and Joey were still snoozing.

--------------------------------------------------

It was midnight. And midnight, as everyone knows, is the perfect time for mischief.

Bakura had awoken. Goodness only knows how, but he had. To find Yugi asleep, and themselves still on that fucking rock. He nimbly hopped down to the ground below, and oh, what a sight befell his tomb-robbing eyes. He could hardly believe his luck. Yami and Kaiba were inhabiting the hut next door, and were both dead to the world.

Oh, the opportunities. If he weren't so sure they would wake up at any given moment, he would have drawn something on their faces. If only they were drugged, he would rearrange their bodies so they would wake up in a compromising position. However, they were only asleep, and one couldn't be too ambitious. Especially when still extremely drunk.

He decided on a course of action, and whipped out his deck.

"Man-Eater Bug!" he whispered. "Get out here!"

And using his ultra special shiny magical powers, he summoned the Man-Eater Bug from its prison within the card.

"I have a task for you. Can you move that rock? Yes, the big one. Can you do that for me?" he asked gleefully.

The Man-Eater Bug growled. He lifted the rock, Yugi still perched atop.

"Yes, that's it, right in front of that door. Yeah. Wedge it in there nice and good. Just a bit more now. Perfect!"

Man-Eater Bug growled again.

"You've done well, my minion. Zorc will reward you for this service. Now go, before anyone sees you. I'm not meant to be summoning monster cards using my powers anymore. Oh well!"

He held out the card and Man-Eater Bug obediently returned to its home, his job done.

Bakura cackled with delight. Unfortunately, at this point, Yugi woke up.

"Bakura?" he mumbled sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "Is it morning already? Hey – did this rock move?"

"Quiet, you stupid-haired little gremlin. Get down from there, we're going to find a place to set up camp and drink."

"You mean sleep."

"What did I say?"

----------------------------------------

And thus did the second day of this torture pass for the teams. Tempers were beginning to fray (or in the case of Yami and Kaiba, continuing to fray), and everyone was tired, hungry and depressed. Apart from Bakura, who was drunk. And Ryou and Tristan, still convinced they were on the verge of a win.

And Mai and Duke. For the following reason.

"I'm telling you, if we just go through those trees there, the mountain's right behind them!"

"Mountains are tall. Do you see one?"

"Well, the trees are in the way, Dice-boy. Just follow me!"

Mai grabbed Duke's hand and yanked him through the trees, to find an open clearing, and –

"Congratulations!"

Both looked utterly perplexed. "Huh?"

"You are the first pair to arrive! You are our winners!"

They had been confronted by none other than Miss Jones and Mr Smith, sitting by the fire, eating smores and looking delighted to see other people for the first time in two days.

"What? Winners? But we were just trying to get to the - "

"As the winners of the three-day challenge, your prize is this: Our final day here will be spent doing any activity you choose! Within reason, of course."

Duke raised his eyebrows. "_Any _activity?"

Miss Jones nodded. "Any."

Duke grinned at Mai. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Mai was fluffing her hair using the window of the Jeep as a mirror. "What? Oh. Yeah, probably."

END CHAPTER

And we have a winner! But the big question is, who'll be the loser?

Win says: Apologies for the shortness of this chapter, but I wanted to end this one there. I'll make it up to you next time.

Also: Yami and Kaiba trapped together in a tiny mud hut? SO cliché but damn it, I just HAD to.


End file.
